If you’ve followed us over the past few years you know we’ve reviewed a lot of Lenovo products. For the most part, we’ve really enjoyed what we’ve reviewed and the Lenovo ThinkPad T470S is no different. The ThinkPad series is Lenovo’s business focused line and they’re built tough. Yes, these machines are intended for business use, but you sure could make this a home machine as well. Read on for the full review of the Lenovo ThinkPad T470S and find out what we “think” of this laptop.

Specifications

The Lenovo ThinkPad T470S sent to us has the following features and specifications and can be configured to your liking:

What’s In The Box

Lenovo ThinkPad T470S

Power adapter and cable

Documentation and Warranties

Design

Lenovo rarely strays too far from what you would expect from the design of a ThinkPad and the ThinkPad T470S toes the line. To me, the looks of the ThinkPad series borders on utilitarian. Sure there are some nice subtle design cues but, in the end, it’s function over beauty. Although I do admit, the ThinkPad T470S has some nice angular lines to it.

The review unit that was sent to us was decked out in silver and made of high-quality plastics. The top of the laptop has the iconic ThinkPad logo with the glowing red dot over the “i,” there is a Lenovo logo as well. On the bottom, you’ll find the ventilation, CS13 docking port, access to the innards and the Dolby speakers.

Along the right side, you’ll find your Thunderbolt 3/USB-C port, USB 3.0 port, HDMI port, USB 3.o port, RJ45, SIM card tray, and Kensington Lock. Moving to the left side you have the proprietary charging port, USB 3.0 port, AUX port and SD card reader. Both the left and right sides also have ventilation to keep things cool.

Nice design, not overdone just functional.

Opening the T470S up, you’ll find a really nice trackpad with the iconic ThinkPad placement of the mouse buttons on the top. It probably isn’t a great place for some users that are used to the buttons at the bottom but it really does not take much getting used to. Of course the ever present “TrackPoint” is still in the center of the keyboard, something I never use.

To the left of the trackpad is the fingerprint reader which works amazingly well and is super accurate and fast. The ThinkPad logo is in the same place as usual along with the normal adverts from Intel. The power button is on the right side up towards the display next to the keyboard. Speaking of the keyboard, this one is not all that bad.

I have found that the really great Lenovo keyboards and trackpads are reserved for the more high-end machines. While this machine isn’t the cheapest thing in their inventory, it isn’t the most expensive either. The keyboard is actually really usable and is far less mushy than some others. There’s a bit more travel than I like but it’s comfortable to type and spaced reasonably.

Finally, the 14″ display sits nicely with larger bezels than I like but not as gaudy as you would think. Overall the design is what we come to expect from the Lenovo ThinkPad line. They basically continue to make solid machines, especially when it comes to ruggedness.

Display

Our review unit came with a 14″ FHD(1920 x 1080) IPS Touch display and it is fantastic. Touch responsiveness is accurate and fluid. I especially love the matte finish as it kills much of the glare you’ll find on glossy screens. The 1920×1080 resolution is just fine for my eyes. There is an optional 2560×1440 version but really, the full HD version works nicely.

The blacks are nice and deep and the whites are good here. Colors are well balanced with no heavy saturation. It’s just an overall really great display that will get you through your day and workflow.

The 1920×1080 matte touch screen is really great!

Software/Ecosystem

Windows 10 Pro on board here and I’ve raved enough about Windows 10, just know that it’s great. There are some bloatware items installed that are probably not needed. Most notably, McAfee. It’s a common complaint on most of my PC reviews, bloatware. I always knock a few points off of this category for it and I’ll do the same here. To Lenovo’s credit, there is far less bloatware lately as there has been in the past.

Performance

Our review unit is packing an Intel Core i5 with 8GB of RAM and integrated graphics. This machine is powerful enough to get you through a good business day. It’s not really designed to take on video editing or photo editing, though I imagine you could do small projects on it. Overall the performance was great for what most would use it for. Browsing, documents, email, an occasional Windows Store game, those kinds of things.

Speakers/Sound

Dolby Advanced Audio is on board here and the sound really isn’t as horrible as some other laptops, it’s just not great. The speakers are on the bottom and that works decently well if the ThinkPad T470S is on a table or desk, not so well on your lap. The speakers tend to get muffled if you use the laptop on your lap making for a bad experience. Seriously though, laptop speakers are generally great for light YouTube browsing and podcasts. If you’re needing serious sound, get some good headphones or a Bluetooth speaker. We’ve reviewed dozens of them!

Camera

The front webcam is your standard 720p camera, good enough for Skype, Hangouts, and the like.

Battery Life

Battery life will depend on how you use your machine. Brightness, the type of panel you have, and what you’re browsing make a difference. The advertised battery life from Lenovo is 12.5 hours. That is pretty spot on as I was able to get a little shy of 13 hours a few times but usually averaged just under 12. Again, it will depend on how you use the machine.

Speakers, ventilation, and docking.

Price/Value

The Lenovo ThinkPad T470S starts at $1079USD and goes up from there. You may find it on Amazon for slightly cheaper but we can’t guarantee prices will be the same at the time of publishing. The ThinkPad series of laptops have always delivered value for the money and this one is no different.

Wrap Up

A great Ultrabook for business or personal use. Great improvement to the trackpad, decent improvement to the keyboard, great battery life and nice screen. You can’t go wrong with this one if this is in your price range.

*We were sent a review unit of the Lenovo ThinkPad T470S for the purposes of this review.

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